This pipped the previous record by 0.25 seconds, earning Fernandes his place in the history e-books.

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Marcel Fernandes, a 16-year old physics student from Brazil, has beaten the world's fastest texting record, typing the 25-word paragraph in only 18.19 seconds. This beat the previous record by 0.25 seconds and was set using a keyboard app called Fleksy

Fleksy is a mobile keyboard app designed by software company Syntellia.

Through the use of simple swipe features and large ‘keys’, Fleksy claims to allow users to experience a keyboard more akin to one found on a desktop computer.

The app follows in the wake of other popular typing apps such as Swype and Microsoft’s Word Flow.

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To claim the record, Fernandes had to type a specific paragraph without using autocorrect or predictive text features.

The passage was: ‘The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.’

The time set by Fernandes beat the previous record of 18.44 seconds set by Microsoft’s Gaurav Sharma in January.

And his time was more than twice as fast as the initial time from when the record was first set in March 2010, a mere 35.54 seconds set by Franklin Page.

Fleksy, available on iOS and Android, uses large letters and a simplified keyboard layout to enable people to type words quickly. They say their app mimics computer keyboards and even lets people type easily without having to look at their phone or tablet

Fernandes set the record on a Samsung Galaxy S4 and was flown out to New York City by Fleksy after winning an online competition.

Although the record attempt was made back on 25 April, it was only recently confirmed by Guinness.

Fernandes, a college student studying physics, told CNN how he honed his skill after losing patience with a computer monitor in 2009.

‘So one day I got so stressed out about it that I literally took a hammer and broke my desktop monitor,’ he says.

‘With no money to buy a new one, I resorted to using exclusively my iPhone 3GS, which I had at the time, to do everything I needed to do.